H-0906.1  _______________________________________________

                     HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 4010

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      54th Legislature     1995 Regular Session

By Representatives Lisk, Chandler, Veloria, Wolfe and Conway; by request of Joint Task Force on Unemployment Insurance

Read first time 01/23/95.  Referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.

Requesting that unemployment benefits be removed from the IRS definition of taxable income.

    TO THE HONORABLE BILL CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:

    We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:

    WHEREAS, The Federal Internal Revenue Code currently requires individuals to pay income taxes on unemployment benefit payments that they have received; and

    WHEREAS, The Taxation of Unemployment Insurance Benefits impacts over eight million persons annually and reduces their income on average by seventeen percent for a total of three billion dollars; and

    WHEREAS, This Taxation of Unemployment Benefits is an onerous burden on individuals that are generally experiencing a dramatic reduction in income due to their loss of employment; and

    WHEREAS, The Taxation of Unemployment Benefits undermines the purpose of Unemployment Insurance, by dramatically reducing the amount of moneys available to workers and their families that are experiencing a loss of wages due to no fault of their own.  In addition, local economies are adversely impacted due to the loss of income in the community; and

    WHEREAS, The Washington State Unemployment Insurance Task Force, comprised of Business, Labor, and Legislative members, in their 1995 Report, found the Taxation of Unemployment Insurance Benefits to be an unfair burden on workers;

    NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectively request that the Congress of the United States enact legislation removing Unemployment Insurance Benefits from taxation under the Internal Revenue Code.

    BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.

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